We've selected
our favorite computer games that will help support
children's music lessons. These games are appropriate for,
and will benefit, children who are not involved in formal
music training as well. Music-making is a powerful activity
that contributes to the development of important skills
children will use in all curricular subjects, besides being
an exciting activity in and of itself!

Here are
our top picks for developing music-making skills:

Music Learning

Top
Pick. Music Ace Deluxe offers 36 carefully
sequenced, engaging lessons that teach children rhythm, pitch,
note-reading, music theory, and keyboarding skills. An animated
tutor guides children through lessons and games, carefully and
systematically teaching them new skills. Also included is the
series' Music Doodle Pad that allows kids to compose and play back
their own tunes. This product is excellent for beginning music
students, and is especially helpful as a complement to early music
classes. See our full
review of this product, as well as screenshots
and notes from the program.

Comparison.
This title offers music lessons along with
skill-building and skill-strengthening games. The lessons are
step-by-step rather than part of a larger adventure.

Three very clever
software programs from Music International Games are available. Each
title offers children the chance to get to know a classical musician
and his music, and includes skill-building games that develop
children's "ear" for music. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker: The
Music Game (see our full
review),
Alice in Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and Mozart's Magic Flute:
The Music Game offer creative and
unique opportunities for children. Most notable are their
"musical puzzles". For example, in Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker, children listen to classical
music, such as The Arab Dance and The Dance of the Sugar Plum
Fairy, and then try to identify the instruments that are playing.
This is beautifully donea real treat.

Comparison. The
musical games in these programs are part of a story line, unlike the
sequenced lessons in Music Ace Deluxe (above).

Morton
Subotnick's Hearing Music is a "playground of
sounds", a software designed to help children identify
different parts of music, and hear the nuances in a melody,
amongst other things. Children participate in four multi-level
games that involve matching, ordering, reading, and comparing
musical phrases and pieces. We found the program very good at what
it sets out to do. Read our full
review of the program for more information.

Comparison.
This program offers four multi-level games. They are not set to an
adventure or story line (as with the Music International Games),
nor are they part of a sequential lesson plan (as found in Music
Ace Deluxe).

Prodikeys
is a unique package that
combines a fully functional computer keyboard with a piano keyboard.
The software that comes with this product allows users
to create, learn, and play music quickly and easily. There
are four modes featured: Impress, Easy Play, Learn, and Perform.
Impress mode is fantastic for quickly
producing great-sounding songs. Kids are likely to spend the most
time in this mode, where they can create mixes that sound
fantastic! In Impress Mode's "Fun Tunes", for example,
the music keys are pre-programmed with music loops. Learn mode features five steps to
learning a selection of songs: Listen to the tune, learn and
practice the notes, learn the notes with rhythm, learn the chords,
and play the tune. See our full
review of this product.